A method of forming such embossed carrier tape is known as a technique referred to as intermittent flat pressure forming method (see Japanese Patent Application “Kokai” No. 2002-127242).
FIG. 5 schematically shows a general construction of a carrier tape forming machine implementing this intermittent flat pressure forming technique.
This machine includes a tape paying-out unit A including a pay-out reel 7 winding thereabout a tape T (6) to be worked and adapted for paying out the tape T (6), a tape feeding unit B for feeding the tape, a forming unit C for forming the tape, a perforating unit D for perforating the tape, a slitting unit E for effecting determination of the final width of the tape by a slitting operation thereon, and a tape taking-up unit F for taking up the worked tape (finished carrier tape) T (8) about a take-up reel 9.
The machine further includes a feeding cam 41, a clamping/forming cam 42, and a perforating vertical cam 43, so that with rotations of these cams 41, 42, 43, the tape is fed, formed and perforated, respectively.
Referring to the operation of the machine in greater details, the tape T (6, 8) is held by a pair of movable chucks 10, 10 disposed apart along the tape feeding direction. As the feeding cam 41 is rotated by a cam motor M1, the movable chucks 10 are moved to the upper-left side in the figure by a predetermined one stroke amount of the feeding cam 41. Thereafter, the tape T is fixed by a stationary chuck 11.
With the above apparatus, the feeding operation of the tape T (6) depends on a position of a feeding dancer roller 12 associated with the feeding of the tape and this feeding operation is carried out by ON/OFF control of a feeding motor M2 coupled with the pay-out reel 7.
The tape T which has been fed by the one stroke amount of the feeding cam 41 by the movable chucks 10 is then heated by a pair of heating plates 14 which pinch the tape from the opposed sides thereof in association with a movement of a heating cylinder 13. Then, the tape is fed by another stroke amount to be clamped and formed by the clamping/forming cam 42, so that an emboss portion 3 is thermoformed in the tape.
When the tape is fed for still another stroke amount, a perforating mold 16 of the perforating unit D perforates a feeding hole 4 and a pocket hole 5 in association with a movement of the perforating vertical cam 43.
Then, widthwise unnecessary side edge of the formed tape T (8), now a carrier tape, is slit-cut, on the downstream side, by the feeding roll 17 and a slitting blade 18. Lastly, the finished tape is taken up about the take-up reel 9 in association with a movement of a take-up dancer roller 19. In order to realize this operation, there are provided a clutch brake motor M3 for rotatably driving the feeding roll 17 and the slitting blade 18 by predetermining timing and also a take-up motor M4 for the take-up operation by the take-up reel 9.
Therefore, with the conventional tape carrier forming apparatus described above, there are provided separate motors M1, M2,M3 and M4 for the paying-out, feeding, slitting and taking-up operations of the tape, respectively. And, in FIG. 5, these motors are disposed along the width direction of the apparatus which is the depth direction of this figure.
The embossed carrier tape manufactured by such apparatus has standard tape widths of 8, 12, 16, 24, 32, 44 and 56 mm.
On the other hand, regardless of these tape widths, the size of the forming apparatus per se is substantially the same. In recent years, there have been ever increasing demands for miniaturization of components, narrowing of the tape, and small-lot, multi-item production. If these demands to be coped with by increasing the number of such large-sized forming apparatuses within a limited space available for their installment, this will result in disadvantageous reduction in the production line space and the working space available. Consequently, the production efficiency can be deteriorated rather than improved, due to e.g. deterioration of the overall work efficiency.
In view of the above, there is a need to form the apparatus as compact as possible. Namely, a carrier tape forming apparatus which is space saving, yet provides higher production efficiency is strongly desired.
As a method of feeding a carrier tape within the apparatus, as described above, it is possible to hold the tape by the chucks acting as holder means and to feed the tape in association with functioning of a cam. However, with such feeding method using chucks and cam, due to irregularity in the tape forming temperature and/or a clearance required for the cam mechanism for its proper operation, the inter-distance between formed housing pockets, also referred to as “embosses”, tends to be instable.
Moreover, as described hereinbefore, in recent years, there has been the need to meet the increasing demand for the small-lot multiple-item production. However, to meet this demand, depending on the final products to be obtained, a great variety of the tape materials and the type of the tapes to be formed are needed. And, the inter-distance between the housing pockets needs to be varied in many ways. In each case, it is necessary to adjust and set the tape feeding amount (stroke) in many ways and with very high precision on the order of micron. With the conventional apparatus, however, as the apparatus uses the motors the cams associated therewith, it is not possible to speedily and appropriately cope with such requirements.
In view of the above-described state of the art, one object of the present invention is to provide a carrier tape forming apparatus which is space-saving, thus providing improved work efficiency and production efficiency. Another object is to provide a method to be implemented with such apparatus. A still further object is to provide a carrier tape forming apparatus which can cope readily and speedily with any various required changes in the tape material, item type and tape feeding stroke.